Industrialization in the Fishery, 1940 - 1969

The years between 1940 and 1969 saw dramatic changes in the Newfoundland fishery. A new product emerged, quick-frozen
cod fillets and blocks, which quickly began to overtake saltfish production.

The Sandra Gage, after 1960

Seen here tied up in St. John's, the Sandra Gage is a typical Canadian offshore trawler operating on the Grand Banks.

Courtesy of the Maritime History Archive (Captain Harry Stone Collection, PF-001.1 M36a), Memorial University of Newfoundland, St. John's, NL.

The two branches of the industry were very different. First, frozen fish was produced in plants, rather than being cured
by the fishing people themselves. The owners of the processing plants also owned the offshore fishing vessels, trawlers,
which caught large quantities of fish for the plants to process, and hired men to work on them. As well, fish plant owners
bought fresh fish directly from inshore fishers. Second, fishing people received cash from the companies for their fish,
instead of credit as had traditionally been the case. Third, the markets for frozen fish were primarily North American,
with the majority of Newfoundland's frozen fish going to the United States. Saltfish markets were in Europe, the Caribbean
and South America.

Packaging Fish, 1991

Workers package fish at the Dorset Fisheries plant in Long Cove, Trinity Bay. This plant is similar to many smaller fish processing operations in Newfoundland.

Technological and economic changes in the North American fishing and food
industries in the late 1930s, 1940s and 1950s paved the way for the growth of
the Newfoundland frozen fish industry. The fishing industry had long been
looking for a way to preserve fish without using salt. Although salted fish
was a popular food item in some countries, such as Spain and Portugal, it did
not appeal to most North Americans. So during the 1920s and 1930s, American
scientists and entrepreneurs experimented with different methods of freezing
fish. In the late 1930s, an eccentric entrepreneur, Clarence Birdseye, who had
lived for a few years in Labrador, invented "quick-freezing," a method which
froze the fish quickly between cooled metal plates. Although quick-frozen
fish never matched the taste of fresh fish, it was close enough. North Americans
began to buy the product.

At the same time, other developments made it much easier for people to buy and eat fish. In earlier times, only people who
lived near the ocean could buy Atlantic fish. But as new methods of transporting perishable foods by train and later by truck
developed, people living in the large interior regions of North America could buy fish.

The way that food was sold was changing as well. Before the 1940s, most people shopped in small, independent grocery stores,
few of which had frozen food cases. Besides, few people owned home refrigerators, so they could not keep frozen food items
at home for any length of time. Beginning in the 1940s and 1950s, however, the growth of large supermarket chains such as
A & P, which featured rows of frozen food cases, made frozen fish more accessible. Home refrigerators also became more
affordable, making it easier to buy and store frozen food, including fish. All of these developments increased the demand
for frozen fish in the United States and Canada.